The present invention relates to repeating firearms, and particularly to an accessory for a repeating firearm using a replaceable magazine.
In land warfare the individual infantry soldier is still an important part of military operations. The effectiveness of the individual soldier depends to a large extent on the accuracy, rate of fire, and number of rounds of ammunition which each individual soldier is capable of providing. For that reason, modern infantry firearms are capable of high cyclic rates of fire and are usually equipped with magazines capable of holding dozens of cartridges. Such magazines must usually be manually released from the firearm when they have become empty, at which time a full magazine must be inserted into the firearm before firing may be continued. In order to be capable of sustained firing an infantry soldier carries loaded spare magazines, typically held in protective pouches attached to ammunition belts. When actually engaged in combat it is common for soldiers to carry spare magazines ready for more immediate use, since removal of a loaded magazine from a cartridge belt may take an undesirably long time.
It is clumsy, however, to carry a loaded spare magazine in one's hand, since it detracts from the ability to hold the firearm securely and aim it accurately.
While a longer period of sustained fire might be provided by simply using a larger magazine with the firearm, this solution is workable only so long as the increased size of the magazine does not interfere with convenient carrying or aiming of the firearm. Additionally, reliable cartridge feeding mechanisms for extremely large magazines may be somewhat complex and therefore undesirable.
In order to provide an ability to fire more rounds quickly, a spare magazine carrier as disclosed in Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,404, of which the disclosure is hereby incorporated herein by reference, allows a spare magazine to be carried alongside the receiver of a rifle, ready for immediate use. With certain automatic and semi-automatic rifles, however, the device disclosed in the mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,404 may partially obstruct access to a functional operating lever or button located on the receiver of such a rifle. In particular, the spare magazine carrier shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,404 limits access to one part of a bolt catch operating lever on certain auto-loading rifles such as M-16 military rifles and Colt.RTM. AR15 rifles, making it more difficult to latch open the bolt of such a rifle, especially when the user is wearing gloves. It is therefore desired to provide an improved spare magazine carrier whose presence does not impede operation of the firearm with which it is associated.